Reading The Infernal Devices
by luvmusic87
Summary: The Tmi Cast with Tessa and Jem reads about their family's past. Minor spoilers, Speicial guest in the future. Takes place after COLS. Update most likely every 2 weeks. I DON'T OWN ANYTHING! THAT'S ALL CASSIE WORK, CHARACTERS TOO! R&R?
1. Chapter 1

Magnus was sitting on his couch watching _The Notebook_, when suddenly an insistent knocking on his door awoken him on his sadness and despair. He walk to the door and found that Tessa and Jem are at his door.

" And what do I owe this pleasure of seeing you two?" asked Magnus

" Well, I thought you should know that there is a trilogy based on our early lives." said Tessa sweetly, taking a once over of her friend gone awry.

" Really! We need to read it. Like now!"

And with that, with the snap of he fingers, all the Shadowhunters, Werewolfs, and the Daylighter appeared in his living room.

" What do you want?" snarled Isabelle " We were busy doing whatever we were doing before you rudely interrupted us with your magic."

" Well I just thought you would like to get to know your ancestors, if that is all right with you?" replied Magnus coldly

" Fine, but who's the chick?" asked Izzy as everybody sat down and got comfortable

" That 'chick' is an important part of the story so I think introductions are in order." said Magnus

Everyone introduced themselves with Jace and Clary side by side on the floor, Simon and Izzy sitting next to each other on the couch with Magnus, Jocelyn and Luke on the love seat, Maia and Jordan on the floor across from the books that mysteriously appeared, Tessa and Jem brought chairs from the kitchen to the living room, and Alec is standing up in the back to get away from the heartbreak and pain from seeing Magnus.

" So, which one of you would like to read first?" Asked Tessa staring at Jace

" I know I'm attractive and all, but if you can't see already I'm a relationship." Jace said looking at Tessa

Tessa just rolled her eyes at her Grandson, who has no idea who she really is.

" I'll read, just to get this over." said Clary

**Prologue **

**London**

" Wait. This takes place in London? I thought this was about our ancestors?" asked Clary

" Just because you were born and raised in New York doesn't mean your family started here as well." Said Jem

" Okay."

**London, April 1878**

**The demon exploded in a shower of** **inchor and guts.**

**William Herondale..**

" Hey that's my last name." Jace exclaimed

" No dip, Sherlock." replied Simon

**..jerked back the dagger he was holding, but it was too late. The viscous acid of the demon's blood had already begun to eat away at the shining blade. He swore and tossed the weapon aside; it landed in a filthy puddle and commenced smoldering like a doused match. The demon itself, of course, had vanished- dispatched back to whatever hellish world it had come from, though not without leaving a mess behind.**

**" Jem!" **

Everyone looked at Jem at the same time in astonishment.

" What? Yes I was alive back then, but don't ask how because I'm sure they'll tell you later." Everyone looked at Clary for her to continue.

**" Jem!" Will called, turning around. " Where are you? Did you see that? Killed it with one blow! Not bad, eh?**

" Wow. He's just like you, Jace." exclaimed Alec, speaking for the first time being in his ex- boyfriend's loft.

" No. I'm way better at killing demons than that know it all." Jace accused

Alec muttered 'hypocrite' so quietly no one would hear him if they weren't next to him, but Maia, Jordan, and Luke did hear him because of their werewolf hearing, and snickered.

Clary took that as a continuation. so she started.

**But there was no answer to Will's shout; His hunting partner had been standing behind him in the damp and crooked street a few moments before, guarding his back, will was positive, but now Will was alone in the shadows. **

" How can you leave a guy like that?" Clary asked Jem

"You will find out soon enough." answered Jem

**He frowned in annoyance- it was much less fun showing off without Jem to show off ****_to_****.**

" See, Jace, even your ancestor admitted that he likes to show off." said Clary

" Yeah, but don't forget he thought it so it's not the same as saying it aloud." Jace pointed out to Clary.

"Whatever." Clary said and started reading again.

**He glanced behind him, to where the street narrowed into a passage that gave onto the black, heaving water of the Thames in the distance. Through the gap Will could see the dark outlines of docked ships, a forest of masts like a leafless orchard. No Jem there; perhaps he had gone back to Narrow Street in search of better illumination. With a shrug Will headed back the way he had come. **

**Narrow Street cut across Limehouse, between the docks beside the river and the cramped slums spreading west toward Whitechapel. It was as narrow as its name suggested, lined with warehouses and lopsided wooden buildings. At the moment it was deserted; even the drunks staggering home from the Grapes up the road had found somewhere to collapse for the night. Will liked Limehouse, liked the feeling of being on the edge of the world, where ships left each day for unimaginably far ports. That the area was a sailor's haunt, and consequently full of gambling hells, opium dens, and brothels, didn't hurt either. It was easy to lose yourself in a place like this. He didn't even mind the smell of it- smoke and rope and tar, foreign spices mixed with the dirty river-water smell of the Thames. **

**Looking up and the empty street, he scrubbed the sleeve of his coat across his face, trying to rub away the ichor that stung and burned his skin. The cloth came away stained green and black. there was a cut on the back of his hand too, a nasty one. He could use a healing rune. One of Charlottle's preferably. She was particularly good at drawing ****_iratzes._**

" Wait, so whose ancestors are these about?" asked Simon

" The people here would have to be The Lightwood, Herondales, Fairchilds, and Woosley Scott is mentioned. I think that's it for the most part." Answered Magnus

" Okay, Clary, you can continue."

**A shape detached itself from the shadows and moved toward Will. He started forward, then paused. It wasn't Jem, but rather a mundane policeman wearing a bell-shaped helmet, a heavy overcoat, and a puzzled expression.**

" So, the Popo used to wear that?" Jordan asked quizzedly

" Unfortunately. I wished I just give them all makeovers from there hideousness."replied Magnus.

Clary took the silence as her cue, so she continue reading.

**He stared at Will, or rather _through_ Will. However accustomed Will had become to glamour, it was always strange to be looked through as if he weren't there. Will was seized with a sudden urge to grab the policeman's truncheon and watch while the man flapped around, trying to figure out where it had gone;**

" So at least we know where Jace gets his need of pranking." said Izzy laughed

" Yeah, well when he wants to take a coat off while glamoured, I switch shampoo bottle for yellow hair-dye." Replied Jace

**But Jem had scolded him a few times he'd done that before, and while Will never really could understand Jem's objections to the whole enterprise, it wasn't worth making him upset.**

" It's true. I was pretty hard on him, but with that prank I was laughing on the inside, I just didn't want to do it in front of him." Said Jem. Tessa was snickering at her late husband's pranks and thoughts.

**With a shrug and a blink, the policeman moved past Will, shaking his head and muttering something under his breath about swearing off the gin before he truly started seeing things. Will stepped aside to let the man pass, then raised his voice to a shout: " James Carstairs! Jem! Where _are _you, you disloyal bastard?"**

"Well _James_ why would you disappear from your 'hunting partner', huh?" asked Simon

" 'Cause, I found something." said Jem

" What was it?" asked Jocelyn

" You'll find out soon enough." answered Jem and nodded at Clary to continue reading

**This time a faint reply answered him. " Over here. Follow the witchlight."**

**Will moved toward the sound of Jem's voice. It seemed to be coming from a dark opening between two warehouses; a faint gleam was visible within the shadows, like the darting light of a will-o'-the-wisp. " Did you hear me before? That Shax demon thought it could get me with its bloody great pincers, but I cornered it in the alley-"**

**" Yes, I heard you." The young man who appeared at the mouth of the alley was pale in the lamplight- paler even than he usually was, which was quite pale indeed.**

Everyone, besides Tessa and Magnus, looked at Jem to see any difference in his appearance. There wasn't much difference, probably because of his old age if he was still alive after being born in the late 1800's.

" Would everyone stop looking at me. You'll get your answers after we're done this trilogy." said Jem. He looked at Clary and silently told her to continue, missing his parabatai's sarcasm and gloating.

**He was bare-headed, which drew the eye immediately to his hair. It was an odd bright silver color, like an untarnished shilling.**

Clary immediately thought of her demon brother out there, looking for her, then looked at her mother to see in her eyes that she is thinking the same thing.

**His eyes were the same silver, and his fine-boned face was angular, the slight curve of his eyes the only clue to his heritage.**

**There were dark stains across his white shirtfront, and his handswere thickly smeared with red.**

**Will tensed. " You're bleeding. What happened?"**

**Jem waved away Will's concern. " It's not my blood." He turned his head back toward the alley behind him." It's hers."**

"Is that why you left?" asked Simon

" Why of course, Simon." Jem said. And with that Clary continued

**Will glanced past his friend , into the thicker shadows of the alley. In the far corner of it was a crumpled shape- only a shadow in the darkness, but when Will looked closely, he could make out the shape of a pale hand, and a wisp of fair hair.**

**" A dead woman?" Will asked." A mundane?"**

**" A girl, really. Not more than fourteen."**

Tessa paled at the thought of that little girl who was just starting her life.

**At that, Will cursed with great volume and expression. Jem waited patiently for him to be done.**

**"If we'd only happened along a little earlier," Will said finally." That bloody demon-"**

**" That's the peculiar thing. I don't think this is the demon's work." Jem frowned. " Shax demons are parasites, blood parasites. It would have wanted to drag its victim back to its lair to lay eggs in her skin while she was still alive. But this girl- she was stabbed, repeatedly."**

" And who you think _that _was?" asked Tessa already knowing the answer. Jem smiled weakly knowing the answer as well.

**"And I don't think it was here, either. There simply isn't enough blood in the alley. I think she was attacked elsewhere, and she dragged herself here to die of her injuries." **

**"But the Shax demon-"**

**"I'm telling you, I don't think it _was_ the Shax. I think the Shax was pursuing her- hunting her down for something, or someone, else."**

**" Shaxes have a keen sense of scent," Will allowed. " I've heard of warlocks using them to follow the tracks of the missing. And it did seem to be moving with an odd sort of purpose." He looked past Jem, at the pitiful smallness of the crumpled shape in the alley. " You didn't find the weapon, did you?"**

**"Here." Jem drew something from the inside of his jacket- a knife, wrapped in white cloth. " It's a sort of misericord, or hunting dagger. Look at how thin the blade is."**

**Will took it. The blade was indeed thin, ending in a handle made of polished bone. The blade and hilt both were stained with dried blood. With a frown he wiped the flat of the knife across the rough fabric of his sleeve, scraping it in clean until a symbol, burned into the blade, became visible. Two serpents, each biting the other's tail, forming a perfect circle.**

**"_ Ouroboros_ ," Jem said, leaning in close to stare at the knife. " A double one. Now, what do you think that means?"**

**" The end of the world,"**

" So dramatic." Said Maia

**Said Will, still looking at the dagger, a small smile playing about his mouth, " and the beginning."**

**Jem frowned. " I understand the symbology, William. I meant, what do you think its presence in the dagger signifies?"**

**The wind off the river was ruffling Will's hair;**

And Tessa just wishes to brush the piece of hair away from his beautiful face.

**He brushed it out of his eyes with an impatient gesture and went back to studying the knife. " It's an alchemical symbol, not a warlock or Downworlder one. That usually means humans - the foolish mundane sort who think trafficking in magic is the ticket for gaining wealth and fame."**

" Fakers." muttered Magnus

**" The sort who usually end up a pile of bloody rags inside some pentagram." Jem sounded grim.**

**" The sort who like to lurk about the Downworld parts of our fair city." After wrapping the handkerchief around the blade carefully, Will slipped it into his jacket pocket. " D'you think Charlotte will let me handle the investigation?"**

**" Do _you_ think you can be trusted in Downworld? The gambling hells, the dens of magical vice, the women of loose morals..."**

**Will smiled the way Lucifer might have smiled, moments before he fell from Heaven. " Would tomorrow be too early to start looking, do you think?"**

**Jem sighed. " Do what you like, William. You always do."**

" You really put up with him, didn't you?" asked Luke

" You can't even imangine what I had to put up with in my life." replied Jem. Clary started reading again.

**Southampton, May.**

**Tessa..**

Tessa groaned. Everyone looked at her.

" What's the matter, Tess?" asked Magnus

" Well I didn't realize this book would include how I came into the shadow world." replied Tessa shyly, not wanting to remember how she got tricked and the toture she'd endured.

" This way we can all share your pain and memories as a group, if that makes you feel any better." said Jem sweetly, earning a small butterfly kiss from Tessa.

" Alright Clary, you can continue, but I have to say this is one long prologue."

Clary didn't have a response, so she continued reading about the past.

**.. could not remember a time she had not loved the clockwork angel. It had belonged to her mother once, and her mother had been wearing it when she died. After that it had sat in her mother's jewerly box, until her brother, Nathaniel, took it out one day to see if it was still in working order.**

**The angel was no bigger than Tessa's pinky finger..**

Tessa showed her pinky finger, knowing people would like a visaul. Hearing how she came to London made her miss her Clockwork angel even more.

**..a tiny statuette made of brass, with folded brass wings no larger than a cricket's. It had a delicate metal face with shut cresent eyelids, and hands crossed over a sword in front. A thin chain that looped beneath the wings allowed the angel to be worn around the neck like a locket.**

**Tessa knew the angel was made out of clockwork because if she lifted it to her ear she hear the sound of its machinery, like the sound o a watch. Nate had exclaimed in surprise that it was atill working after so many years, and he had looked in vain for a knob or a screw,or some other method by which the angel might be wound. But there had been nothing to find. With a shrug he'd given the angel to Tessa. From the moment she had never taken it off;**

"Well if you never took it off, then where is it now?" asked Jace curious about this strange lady. She must be old if she is still alive and she was one of the main characters of this book. Magnus must have known her during this time period.

" Umm, well, it.. kinda..umm...Jem?"

" It was something real, we'll just have to read further to see what actually happen, now won't we?" Replied Jem

**Even at night the angel lay agaist her chest as she slept, its constant _ticktock, ticktock_ like the beating of a second heart.**

**She held it now, clutched between her fingers, as the _Main_ nosed its way between other massive steamships to find a spot at the Southampton was a much pleasenter place to arrive at, so Tessa coudn't help being a little disappionted by this, her first sight of England. It was drearily gray. Rain drummed down ontothe spires of a distant church, while black smoke rose from the chimneys of ships and stained the already dull- colored sky. A crowd of people in dark clothes, holding umbrellas, stood on the docks. Tessa strained to see if her brother was among them, but the mist and spray from the ship were too thick for her to make out any individual in great detail.**

**Tessa shivered. The wind off the sea was chilly. All of NAte's letters had claimed that London was beautiful, the sun shining every day.**

" Yeah, well he lied. Instead of being all sunny and happy it's always gloomy, rainy days, for the most part, anyway." Magnus said.

**Well, Tessa thought,**

"They know my thoughts, too!" Tessa outraged.

" I know! The same awful thing happened to me, too." Clary outraged then continued reading

**Hopefull the weather there was better than it was here, because she had no warm clothes with her, nothing more substantial than a woolen shawl that had belonged to Aunt Harriet, and a pair of thin gloves. She had sold most of her clothes to pay for her aunt's funeral, secure in the knowledge that her brother would buy her more when she arrived in London to live with him.**

** A shout went up. The _Main, _its shining black-painted hull gleaming wer with rain, had anchored, and tugs were plowing their way through the heaving gray water, ready to carry baggage and passengers to shore. Passengers stramed off the ship, clearly deserate to fell land under their feet. So different from their departure from New York.**

" You're from New York?" asked Simon

" Yes. Yes I was. " said Tessa and then there was silence, then Clary started reading again.

**The sky had been blue then, and a brass band had been playing. Though, with no one there to wish her good-bye, it had not been a merry occasion.**

** Hunching her shoulders, Tessa joined the disembarking crowd. Drops of rain stung her unproctected head and neck like pinpricks from icy little needles, and her hands, inside thier insubstantial gloves, were clammy and wet with rain. Reaching the quay, she looked around eagerly, searching for a sight of Nate. It had been nearly two weeks since she's spoken to a soul, having kept almost entirely to herself on board the _Main. _It would be wonderful to have her brother to talk to again.**

** He wasn't there. The wharves were heaped with stacks of luggage and all sorts of boxes and cargo, even mounds of friut and vegatables wilting and dissolving in the rain. A steamer was departing for Le Harve nearby, and damp- looking sailors swarmed close by Tessa, shouting in French. She tried to move aside, only to be trampled by a throng of disembsrking passengers hurrying for shelter of the railway station.**

** But Nate was nowhere to be seen.**

**" You are Miss Gray?" The voice was guttural, heavily accented. A man had moved to stand in front of Tessa. He was tall, and was wearing a sweeping black caot and a tall hat, its brim collecting rainwater like a cistern. His eyes were peculiarly bulging, almost protuberant, like a frog's, his skin as rough- looking as a scar tissue. Tessa had to fight the urge to cringe away from him.**

Everyone, including Tessa, laughed at her arkwardness towards the man.

**But he knew her name. Who here would know her name except someone who knew Nate, too?**

**"Yes?"**

**" Your brother sent me. come with me."**

" Wow, that wasn't creppy at all." Simon said with sarcasm

" Agreed." Alec said proudly

**" Where is he?" Tessa demanded, but the man was already walking away. His stride was eneven, as if he had a limp from an old injury. After a moment Tessa gathered up her skirts and hurried after him.**

** He wound through the crowd, moving ahead with purposeful speed. People jumped aside, muttering about his rudeness as he shouldered past, with Tessa nearly running to keep up. He turn abruptly around a pile of boxes, and came to a halt in front of a large, gleaming black coach. Gold letters had been painted across its side, but the rain and mist were too thick for Tessa to read them clearly.**

** The door of the carriage opened and a women leaned out. She wore an enormous plumed hat that his her face. "Miss Theresa Gray?"**

** Tessa nodded. The bulging-eyed man hurried to help the woman out of the carriage- and then another woman, following after her. Each of them immediately opened an umbrella and raised it, sheltering themselves from the rain. Then they fixed thier eyes on Tessa.**

**They were an odd pair, the women.**

" Yeah the wicked witches of the west." muttered Jem

"And you know how close that is to the truth." Said Tessa. " Clary can you finish reading?"

" Yeah of course." Clary said then started reading again.

**One was very tall and thin, with a bony, pinched face. Colorless hair was scraped back into a chigon at the back of her head. She wore a dress of brillant violet silk, already sppatered here and therewith splotches of rain, and matching violet gloves. The other women was short and plump, with small eyes sunk deep into her head; the bright pink gloves stretched over her large hands made them looked like colorful paws.**

** " Theresa Gray," said the shorter of the two. " What a delight to make your acquanintance at last. I am Mrs. Black, and this is my sister. Your brother sent us to accompy you to London."**

** Tessa- damp, cold, and baffled- clutched her wet showl tighter around herself. " I don't understand. Where's Nate? Why didn't he come himself?"**

** "He was unavoidably detained by business in London. Mortmain's couldn't spare him. He sent a note for you, however." She held out a rolled-up bit of paper, already dampened with rain.**

**Tessa took it and turned away to read it. It was a short note from her brother apologizing for not being at the docks to meet her, and letting her know that he trusted Mrs. Black and Mrs. Dark- _I call them the Dark Sisters, Tessie, for obvious reasons, and they seem to find the name agreeable!- _to bring her safely to his house in London. They were, his note said, his landladies as well as his trusted friends, and they had his highest recommendation.**

**That decided her. The letter was certainly from Nate. It was in his handwriting, and no one else ever call her Tessie. She swallowed hard and slipped the note into her sleeve , turning back to face the sisters. " Very well," she said, fighting down her lingering sense pf disappointment- she had been so looking forward t seeing her brother. " Shall we call a porter to fetch my trunk?"**

**" No need, no need." Mrs. Dark's cheerful tone was at odds with her pinched features. " We've already arranged to have sent it on ahead." She snapped her fingers at the bulging- eyed man, who swung himself up into the driver's seat at the front of the carriage. She palced ger hand on Tessa's shoulder. " Come alog, child; let's get you out the rain."**

**As Tessa movedtoward the carriage, propelled by Mrs. Dark's bony grip,**

" Was her skin that thin?" asked Jordan

" Why yes. It was so thin it look like long, thicker toothpicks." Replied Tessa, then Clary continued reading

**The mist cleared, revealing the gleaming golden image painted on the side of the door. The words " The Pandemonium Club" curled intricately around two snakes biting each other's tails, forming a circle. Tessa frowned. " What does that mean?"**

**" Nothing you need to worry about," said Mrs. Black, who had already climbed inside and had her skirts spread out across one of the comfortable looking seats. The inside of the carriage was richly decorated with plush purple velvet bench seats facing each other, and gold tasselled curtains hanging in the windows.**

**Mrs. Dark helped Tessa up into the carriage, then clambered in behind her. As Tessa settled herself on the bench seat, Mrs. Black reached to shut the carriage door behind her sister, closing out the gray sky. When she smiled, her teeth gleamed in the dimness as if they were made of metal. " Do settle in, Theresa. We've a long ride ahead of us."**

**Tessa put a hand to the clockwork angel at her throat, taking comfort in its steady ticking, as the carriage lurched forward into the rain.**

" So we know two things. One The Pandemonium Club is there back in the 1800's. And two the Pandemionium club is tied with the killings. This just got interesting." said Simon

" Yeah, whatever, I'll read next." Izzy said.


	2. Heads -up

**A/N: So I know this is not what your hoping for, but this is just a heads up. I'm currently in the process of moving so I need just probably a few extra days to update after I get everything situated. As promised in the summary after Chapter 2 I plan to update every two weeks. Also I'll like to thank all for favoriting, following, and reviewing to this story. I should have done this in the first chapter, but I was so excited to post this and see what I've got, which has made me very happy. Anyway thanks to BloodlinesFan for helping me with this story when I was having doubts, so she really helped with the making of this story. Thanks so much, probably after next saturday is when you should have that, and if not you can tell me to do so. Have a goodnight, and thanks a million. **


	3. The Dark House Part 1

**A/N: So this is chapter 2, I do not have my PC hooked up yet so in the next few weeks it might come in a little slow, but thank you all for the patience. Thanks again for all the favorite, followers, and reviews. Now on with the story!**

* * *

**Six weeks later, The Dark House **, Started Izzy

" Does anyone want to guess who the dark House belongs to?" asked Simon

" I'm going to guess... The Cheese cake factory!" answers Jace

Everybody just rolled their eyes. Izzy continued.

**"The sisters would like to see you in their chambers, Miss Gray."**

"Why would they like you in their chambers for, Miss Gray?" asked Simon

" Oh, you know the usual, wear dead people. It's real fun, maybe you should try it some time." replied Tessa

"Is that true?" asked Clary

" More or less." Silence. Izzy carried on.

**Tessa set the book she had been reading down on the bedside table, and turned to see Miranda standing in the doorway of her small room- just as she did at this time every day, delivering the same message she delivered every day. **

" Well that must get boring. Getting the same message every day, predictable much?" Izzy said

" It might be the same, frightening message, but what they ask is the same as well, it's just... well you'll find out soon enough, I believe." Tessa replied.

" Ok."

**In a moment Tessa would ask her to wait in the corridor, and Miranda would leave the room. Ten minutes later she'd return and say the same thing again. If Tessa didn't come obediently after a few of those attempts, Miranda would seize her and drag her, kicking and screaming, down the stairs to the hot, stinking room where the Dark Sisters waited.**

" Oh my. I can't believe you've een through that." Jocelyn said with remorse

" I've been through much worse."

" And you shouldn't have to go through what you went through, at least not alone." Said Jem

" I guess it's a good thing I wasn't alone for most of the journey. Plus, if I didn't go through those things, some people wouldn't be here, now would they?" Tessa asked giving Jem a look that meant, " I have a grandson here who doesn't know who I am, and thinks I'm flirting with him." Jem understood it all.

" Okay, Izzy, I think you can continue." said Magnus, and she did.

**It had happened every day of the first week that Tessa had been in the Dark House, as she had come to call the place they kept her prisoner, until eventually Tessa had realized that the screaming and kicking didn't do much good and simply wasted her energy. Energy that was probably better saved for other things.**

" And what are those other things, exactly?" asked Jordan

" You know." Tessa said with a smirk and raised her eyebrows suggestively. Over the years of her and Will's marriage, she's been a little more... experience.

" Oh, gosh!" Jordan exclaimed with a slight laugh.

" I'm kidding. Yezh, get your head out of the gutter!" Tessa told Jordan. Everybody laughed their heads off. Once everything calmed down Izzy continued.

**" One moment, Miranda," Tessa said. The maid bobbed an awkward crusty and went out of the room, shutting the door behind her.**

**Tessa rose to her feet, glancing around the small room that had been her prison cell for six weeks. It was small , with flowered wallpaper,**

"Well that's a little morbid and odd knowing it is a nice prison, better than the ones now a days. You lucky to be there at the moment." Izzy said

" You might want to reconsider that after you finish the chapter." Tessa replied

**and sparsely furnished a plain deal table with a white lace cloth over it where she ate her meals ; the narrow brass bed where she slept; the cracked washstand and porcelain jug for her ablutions; the windowsill where she stacked her books, and a small chair where she sat each night and wrote letters to her brother- letters she knew she could never send, letters she kept hidden under her mattress where the Dark Sisters would not find them. It was her way of keeping a diary...**

Yeah a diary that her late husband read again and again.

**...and of assuring herself, somehow, that she would see Nate again someday and be able to give them to him.**

**She cross the room to the mirror that hung against the far wall, and smooth down her hair. The Dark Sisters, as they in fact seemed to wish to be called, preferred her not to look messy, although they didn't appear to mind her appearance one way or the other past that- which was fortunate, because her reflection made her wince.**

" You couldn't have looked that bad." Alec said**  
**

" Well you didn't see me when I was like that, although some people did see me, but they're all dead." Tessa replied solemnly.

" If makes you feel any better, you look beautiful now." Alec said. Magnus looked between them with a hint of jealously in his eyes, even though Magnus knows that Alec is attracted to guys, but that doesn't help Magnus, thinking of when he broke up Alec only a few long weeks ago. Izzy continued her chapter.

**There** **a pale oval of her face dominated by hollow gray eyes- a shadowed face without color in its cheeks or hope in its expression. She wore the unflattering black schoolmarmish dress that the Sisters had given her once she'd arrived; her trunk had never followed her, despite their promises...**

" Well they never followed up their promise, how could they not follow-up on their promise. Thank the angel that their not Shadowhunters because that is just disgraceful of them!" Jace outburst. Tessa looked at him curiously, slightly agape at his outburst.

" What?! They should have at least brought you your things, considering that could be all you had, at least at the time." Jace said cooling down. Tessa didn't say anything, she just got up and walk over to Jace and gave him a bear hug, with small a,'Thank You' after she pulled away. Jace just looked at her a tad sad, then a small smile appeared on his face. After the drama ended Izzy read on.

**...and this was now the only piece of clothing she owned. She looked away quickly.**

**She hadn't always flinched from her reflection. Nate, with his fair good looks, was the one in the family generally agreed to have inherited her mother's beauty, but Tessa had always been perfectly content with her own smooth brown hair and steady gray eyes. Jane Eyre had had brown hair, and plenty of other heroines besides.**

" And that is the truth, including my beautiful girlfriend, with her dazzling firery red hair." Jace muttered, so Clary could hear him. Clary blushed and gave Jace a small victory smile.

**And it wasn't so bad being tall, either- taller than most boys her own age, it was true, but Aunt Harriet had always said that as long as tall women carried herself well, she would forever look regal.**

Izzy and Tessa shared a look, knowing that it's true.

**She didn't regal now, though. She looked pinched and bedraggled and altogether like a frighten scarecrow.**

" Can Scarecrows even look frighten? I mean, aren't they supposed to frighten birds away from the crops? What, are they new now? Are they supposed to scare away humans, too?" Simon questioned.

" Simon." Maia said

" Yeah?"

" Shut up."

" Okay."

Izzy read on.

**She wondered if Nate would even recognize her if he saw her today.**

**At that thought her heart seemed to shrink inside her chest. _Nate_. He was the one she was doing all of this for,...**

" Tess, you do know that in the end, he didn't deserve what you were doing for him or at least thinking you were doing for him, don't you?"

" I miss him, but he was just using me?"

"What aare you talking about?" Clary asked

"You will so find out." Magnus answered, Izzy continued.

**... but sometimes she missed him so much it felt like she'd swallowed broken glass. Without him, she was completely alone in the world. There was no one at all for her.**

" Yet." Magnus said " You just haven't met the people yet."

**No one in the world who cared whether she lived or died. Sometimes the horror of that thought threatened to overwhelm her and plunge her down into a bottomless darkness from which there would be no return. If no one in the entire world cared about you, did you really exist?**

" Wow, that's real deep,Tess. I didn't know you had it in ya." Magnus said to Tessa, who is having a slight panic attack, thinking about the worst part of her life, well second worst.

**The click of the lock cut her thoughts off abruptly. The door opened; Miranda stood on the threshold.**

**"It is time to come with me now," she said. " Mrs. Black and Mrs. Dark are waiting."**

**Tessa looked at her in distaste. She couldn't guess how old Miranda was. Nineteen? Twenty-Five? There was something ageless about her smooth round face.**

" Ooo, what's her secret?" Magnus asked trying to ease the tension around the atmostphere. No one answered.

**Her hair was the color of ditch water, pulled back harshly behind her ears. Exactly like the Dark Sisters' coachman, she had eyes that protruded like a frog's and made her look like she was permanently surprised. Tessa thought they must be related.**

" Yeah, relanted by the same maker." Jem said.

**As they went downstairs together, Miranda marching along with her graceless, clipped gait, Tessa raised her hand to touch the chain around her throat where the clockwork angel hung. It was habit- something she did each time she was forced to see the Dark Sisters. Somehow the feel of pendent around her neck reassured her. She kept hold of it as they passed landing after landing. There were several levels of corridors to the Dark House, though Tessa had seen nothing of it but the Dark Sisters' chambers, the halls and stairs , and her own room. Finally they reached the shadowed cellar.**

" A cellar? Man, you had it bad!" Jordan said

**It was dank down here, the walls clammy with unpleasant moisture, though apparently the Sisters didn't mind. Their office was ahead, through a set of wide double doors. A narrow corridor led away in the other direction, vanishing into darkness; Tessa had no idea what lay down that hallway,...**

" Maybe," Jace started, It's a GIANT CAT!"

Everyone just laughed at his just continued.

**...But something about the thickness of the shadows made her glad she never found out.**

**The doors to the Sisters' office were open. Miranda didn't hesitate, but clomped inside, Tessa following after her with great reluctance. She hated this room more than any other place on earth.**

**To begin with, it was always hot and wet inside, like a swamp, even when the skies outside were gray and rainy.**

" See I told you it was always gloomy in Londan!" Magnus exasperated.

" Yes, yes you did." Maia replied with a smile.

**The walls seemed to seep moisture, and the upholstery on the seats and sofas was always blooming with mold. It smelled strange as well, like the banks of the Hudson on a hot day: water and garabage and silt.**

** The Sisters were already there, as they always were, seated behind their enormous raised desk. They were thier usual colorful selves,...**

Everyone looked at Magnus who isn't in his colorful attire perusaul.

" Would everyone stop staring at me!" Magnus yelled. Then mumbled, " Take a picture, it'll last longer."

The werewolfs in the room all smiled a littled at him. Izzy continued reading.

**... Mrs. Black in a dress of vibrant salmon pink and Mrs. Dark in a gown of peacock blue. Above the brilliantly colored satins, their faces were like deflated gray ballons.**

Everyone laughed at their imaginations of what that would look on the ungly hag, except- of couse- Jem and Tessa. They settled down soon enough, so that Izzy could continue.

**They both wore gloves despite how hot the room was.**

_To hide their ugly hands_, Tessa thought then shuddered at little at the memory of them touching her.

**"Leave us now, Miranda," said Mrs. Black, who was spining the heavy brass globe they kept on the desk with one plump, white-gloved finger.**

"Like an Orange!" Jace exclaimed. Clary gave Jace a smile while Izzy continued reading, ignoring her brother's antics.

**Tessa had many times tried to get a better look at the globe- something about the way the continents were laid out had never looked qiute right to her, especially the space in the center of Europe- but the sisters always kept it away from it. " And shut the door behind you.**

**Expressionless, Miranda did as asked. Tessa tried not to wince as the door shut behind her, closing off what ittle breeze there was in this airless place.**

" You must have had it bad, back then. How did you survive?" Jocelyn asked Tess

" I've met a group of Shadowhunters, who help me thourghout most of my life. Oh, and one very special Warlock." Tessa said. Jem and Magnus both gave her a bright smile.

" I would've done it all again to be with you." Jem said to Tessa earning him another kiss, but a little more heated, until a throat cleared. Tessa blushed and told Izzy to continue.

**Mrs. Dark tilted her head to the side. "Come here, Theresa."**

" Why won't they just call you Tessa?" Jordan asked

" Good question." Tesa replied.

**Of the twowomen, she was the more kind- more likely to wheedle and persuade than her sister, who like to convince with slaps and hissed threats. "And take this."**

**She held something out: a dilapidated bit of pink fabric tied in a bow, the sort that might be used as a girl's hair ribbon.**

" Could it be the same girl Will and Jem found? We know that they are connected, but how?" Simon asked

" I don't honestly know, but it could be." Magnus answered. Izzy read on.

**She was used to being handed things by the Dark Sisters now. Things that had once belonged to people:..**

" What type of things?" Maia asked Tessa

" I do believe that it will tell you itself, but I don't understand how." replied Tessa. Izzy continued reading, since it's getting interesting.

**... tie pins and watches, mourning jewerly, and children's toys. Once the laces of a boot; once a single earring, stained with blood.**

**" Take this," said Mrs. Dark again, a hind of impatience in her voice. "And Change."**

" What do you keep refering to as the, 'Change'? Alec asked

" You'll learn once we get more into the chapter." Tessa said

**Tessa took the bow. It lay in her hand, as light as a moth's wing,..**

" How would you know?" Jordan asked skeptically

" I just assumed." Tessa replied wondering of this is 101 questions.

**...and the Dark Sisters stared impassively at her. She remembered books she had read, novels in which characters were on trial, standing quaking in the dock at the Old Bailey and praying for a verdict of not guilty. She often felt she was on trial herself in this room, without knowing of what crime stood accused.**

**She turned the bow over in her hand, remembering the first time the Dark Sisters had handed an object to her- a women's glove, with pearl buttons at the wrist. They had shouted at her to Change, had slapped her and shaken her as she told them over and over again with rising hysteria that she had no idea what they were talking about, no idea what they were asking her to do.**

Clary started crying about how unjust they were to poor, innocent Tess. She didn't deserve people bullying her. Jace saw his girlfriend crying, but didn't know what to do, so he just hugged her until she stopped or he was starting to hurt her. Wich one ever came first. She stopped crying first, _Thank the angel! _Jace thought. Clary nodded at Izzy to tell her she was fine and to continue.

** She hadn't cried, even though she wanted to. Tessa hated to cry espicially in fron of people she didn't trust.**

Jace stared at Tessa, wondering why she had similar problems. Could they possiably be related? he thought, but shook his head because she had t be a Witch or a vampire to be able to live this young and maintain youth.

**And of the only two people in the world she trusted, one was dead and the other was imprisoned. They had told that, the Dark Sisters, had told her that they had Nate, and if she didn't do what they said, he would die. They'd showed her his ring, the one that had been her father's- stained with blood now- to prove it. They hadn't let her hold it or touch it, had snatched it back as she reached for it, but she reconized it. It was Nate's.**

**After that she had done everything they'd asked. Had drunk the potions they's given her, done the hours of agonizing exercises, forced herself to think the way they wanted her to. They'd told her to imagine herself as clay, being shaped and molded on the potter's wheel, her form amorphous and changeable. They'd told her to reach down into the object theyd given to her, to imagine them as living things, and to draw out the sprit that animated them.**

" Wow, that sounds rough, and hard to understand." Jordan said to no one inparticular. Everyone just nodded their agreement. Izzy carried on.

**It had taken weeks, and the first time she had Changed, it had been so blindingly painful...**

" Could pain be blinding?" Simon asked

" Could be when you're under enough stress and pain." Alec answered. "Which Tessa must have been in. So I would say so."

**... that she'd vomited and passed out. When she'd woken, she'd been lying on one of the moldering chaises in the Dark Sisters' rooms, a damp towel being sponged across her face. Mrs. Black had been leaning down over her, her breath as bitter as vinegar, her eyes alight.**

Everone laughed of this monstrosity called a women. Once eveyone calmed down, Izzy read on.

**" You did well today, Theresa," she had said. "Very well."**

" Is that the first compliment she'd said to you? I mean, if I want someone to do something for me I'll give them pleanty of compliments." Jace said

Since no one really cared for his question or remark, Izzy just continued reading.

**That evening Tessa had gone up to her room, there had been gifts for her, two new books on her beside table. Somehow the Dark Sisters had realized that reading and novels were Tessa's passion.**

" Well that was nice of them." Magnus thought out loud. Since no one said anything, Izzy continued.

**There was a copy of _Great Expectatons_ and- of all things-_ Little Women_. Tessa had hugged the books to herself and, alone and unwatched in her room, had let herself cry.**

** It had grown eaiser since then, the Changing. Tessa still didn't understand what happened inside her to make it possible, but she had memorized the series of steps the Dark Sisters had taught her, the way a blind person might memorize the number of paces it takes to walk from their bed to the door of their room.**

" You must've practiced and expericed a lot." Luke said

" Experiance and practice is life." Tessa said

**She didn't know what was around her in the strange dark place they asked her to journey to, but she knew the pathway through it.**

** She drew on those memories now, tightening her grip on the ragged bit of pink fabric she held. She opened her mind and let the darkness come down, let the connection that bound her to the hair ribbon and the spirit inside it- the ghostly echo of the person who once owned it- unravel like a golden thread leading through the shadows. The room she was in, the oppressive heat, the noisy breathing of the Dark Sisters,...**

" You always seem to dis on them." Alec said." Why?"

" I don't know, but what I'm **Thinking** of them isn't true, we'll just have to read on to see what happens, even though three of us knows what really happens. " Tessa explained.

**...all of it fell away as she follwed the thread, as the light grew more intense around her and she wrapped herself in it as if she were wrapping herself in a blanket.**

" Was it at least warm?" Jace asked

Tessa had to think, since it was a very long time ago, then she nodded her at Jace. Izzy read on.

**Her skin began to tingle and to sting with thousands of tiny shocks. This had been the worst part, once- the part that had convinced her she was dying. Now she was used to it, and bore it stoically as she shuddered all over, from her scalp to her toes. The clockwork angel around her throat seemed to tick faster, as if the rhthym with her speeding heart. The pressure inside her skin built- Tessa gasped- and her eyes, which had been closed, flewopen as the sensation built to crescendo- and then vanished.**

** It was over.**

" What was over? Your life?" Jace asked

Tessa sometimes really want to hit him upside the head, but of course he could kill me, but not if he knew who she was. So She asnwered, " No." she said simply and nodded at Izzy who understood what Tessa was saying.

**Tessa blinked dizzily. The first moment after a Change was always like blinking water out of your eyes after submerging yourself in a bath.**

" Who goes under the water while taking a bath?" Simon asked

Everyone's hands went up.

**She looked down at herself. Her new body was slight, almost fragil, and the fabric of her dress hung loose, pooling on the floor at her feet. Her hands, clasped in front of her, were pale and tin, with chapped tips and bitten nails. Unfamilar, alien hands.**

" Why would you call your own hands, 'alien hands'?" Maia asked

" You'll learn soon enough." Tessa said, motioning for Izzy to continue.

**" What is your name?" Mrs. Black demanded.**

" Duh, it's Tessa, right?" asked Clary

Izzy and Tessa both shook their heads. It was quite.

**She had risen to her feet and was looking down at Tessa with her pale eyes burning. She looked almost hungry.**

** Tessa didn't have to answer for her, speaking through her the way spirits were said to speak through their mediums- but Tessa hated to** **think about it that way; the Change was so much more intimate, so much more frightening, than that. "Emma," the voice that came from Tessa said." Miss Emma Bayliss, ma'am."**

* * *

**A/N:Howdy! I had to break this chapter up because I wanted you to not have to wait till I'm done writing this stinkin' one chapter. I hope you read the A/N above because that explains some things. In NOW chapter 4 the special guest is coming. Anyone wants to guess who they are? Give you a guess; They're from TID ;-D. Have fun and good night.**


	4. The Dark House Part 2

**A/N: Didn't I tell you it would come in slow. I want you guys or girls to keep guessing who the secret character is. I have a couple so far, but I want to see what you come up with. Alright on with part 2!**

* * *

**" And who are you, Emma Bayliss?"**

" You weren't kidding when you said that they made you wear dead people, huh?" Simon asked

" No, I wasn't. It was one of my horrific times of my life."

**The voice replied, words tumbling out of Tessa's mouth, bringing strong images with them. Born in Cheapside, Emma had been one of six children.**

" That's a lot of children. How does the mother do it?" Clary asked herself, but it was Jace who answered:

" I think you and I both know how she does it." Clary blushed, but stayed silent while Jace let out a small chuckle.

**Her father was dead, and her mother sold peppermint water from a cart in the East End. Emma had learned to sew to bring in money when she was still a small child. Nights, she spent sitting at the little table in her kitchen, sewing seams by the light of a tallow candle. Sometimes, when the candle burned down and there was no money for another, she would go out into the streets and sit below one of the municipal gas lamps, using its light to sew by...**

" That girl was so poor I feel sorry for her. I wish back in the 1870's they had some sort of life support for people who had this kind of trouble." Maia said sympathetically. Jordan hugged her just for comfort and pecked her on the cheek.

" Do you think this is the girl Will and Jem found in the ally?" Simon inquired. Everyone looked at Jem to see if He had an answer. He didn't. So Izzy carried on with the story.

**" Is this what you were doing out on the street the night you died, Emma Bayliss?" asked Mrs. Dark.**

" What kind of name is 'Baylisss'?" wondered Jace

" What kind of name is Wayland, or Herondale or any other shadowhunter names?" Simon asked, playfully.

" Well... Shadowhunter names, of course." replied Jace with a smirk on his face. Everybody just rolled their eyes at the two boys.

**She was smiling thinly now, running her tongue over her lower lip, as if she could sense what the answer would be.**

" She knew didn't she. That Witch knew what she what the answer was because she killed her!" Alec outraged, surprising everybody in the room, except for Magnus who already knew that Alec could be like this, and yet that is one of the many things he missed most about his Blue-eyed Shadowhunter. Magnus just put on a small smile, even though it's killing him inside just looking at Alec, already regretting breaking up with him. _We need the space for just a breather_, Mangus thought to himself, but as if sensing his pain Tessa stood up, not attracting too many people and gave her old friend a much-needed hug. Izzy realized that it was time to get a move on.

**Tessa saw narrow , shadowy streets, wrapped in thick fog, a silver needle working by faint yellow gaslight. A step, muffled in the fog. Hands that reached out of the shadows and took hold of her shoulders, hands that dragged her, screaming, into the darkness.**

" That sounds like a horrible way to die. Just getting ambushed in the dark, working." Jocelyn said with sadness creeping in her voice. Luke noticed this and gave her an encouraging squeeze and looked at her with so much love.

**The needle and thread falling from her hands , the bows ripped from her hair as she struggled. A harsh voice shouting something angry. And then the silver blade of a knife flashing down through the dark, slicing into her skin, drawing out the blood. Pain that was like fire, and terror like nothing else she'd ever known. She kicked out at the man holding her, succeeding in knocking the dagger from his hand; she caught the blade and ran, stumbling as she weakened, the blood draining out of her fast, so fast.**

" What is this? A Peom? ' The blood draining of her fast, so fast'. I mean come on! There has to be better words that!" Jace outraged. Tessa looked at him with a glint of recognition. Will would've acted like that to something so similar. She could defiantly see the relationship between them.

" Well maybe the Author didn't have the proper words for it." Tessa told Jace.

" How, is my question, did they get this information if it was all in your head?" asked Jordan.

" That is a very good question. I guess we'll have to wait and see." Jem said calmly. While Magnus, who already went through this once already has an idea.

**She crumpled in an alley, hearing hissing scream of _something_ behind her.**

" See! It has to be the same girl Will and Jem found in the alley! It has to!" Screamed Maia

**She knew it was following her, and she was hoping to die before it reached her-**

**The Changed shattered like glass.**

" So ... When a person you've changed into has died, the Change stops?" Clary inquired

" It has proven so. With my experience over the years." Tessa answered

It was an awkward moment of silence with everyone looking at each other, when Izzy finally got the gist that she should continue.

**With a cry Tessa fell to her knees, the torn little bow falling from her hand. It was _her _hand again-Emma had gone, like a cast-off skin. Tessa was once more alone inside her own mind.**

" Thank goodness for that." Tessa muttered to herself.

**Mrs. Black's voice came from far away." Theresa? Where is Emma?"**

" Nice to know she cared." muttered Magnus.

**" She's dead," Tessa whispered." She died in an alley- bled to death."**

**" Good."**

Everyone just looked at the book in pure anger.

**Mrs. Dark exhaled, a sound of satisfaction. " Well done Theresa. That was very good."**

" It's like they are treating you like a dog!" Jace exclaimed

Tessa looked at him and said in the quietest voice she could muster: " They did. Treat me like a dog, I mean." Sully Tessa snuggled into Jem a little more, so she was basically sitting on his lap.

**Tessa said nothing. The front of her dress was splotched with blood, but there was no pain. She knew it was not her blood; it wasn't the first time this had happened. She closed her eyes, spinning in the darkness, willing herself not to faint.**

**" we should have had her do this before," said Mrs. Black." The matter of the Bayliss girl has been bothering me."**

" Why?! Is it because of your guilt?" Alec question the book. He felt insecure about himself when everybody starts looking at you crazy; but he had to get his anger and frustration out somehow.

**Mrs. Dark's reply was curt. " I wasn't sure she was up to it. You remember what happened with the Adams women." **

" What Adams women?" Luke asked

Izzy was the one to answer, but all she said was: " Just a minute." Then continued reading as if nobody interrupted her.

**Tessa knew immediately what they were talking about. Weeks ago she had Changed into a women who had died of a gunshot wound to the heart; blood had poured down her dress and she Changed back immediately, screaming in hysterical terror until the Sisters had made her see that she herself was unharmed.**

**" She's advanced wonderfully since then, don't you think, Sister?**

" What are they? Nuns?" asked Simon

" No, just old, baggy bitches from hell." Magnus replied.

**Mrs. Black said. " Given what we had to work with in the beginning she didn't even know what she _was_."**

Tessa sulked a little lower into Jem, feeling ashamed, while Jem was whispering such sweet nothings that eventually the werewolves tried to ignore them and Tessa trying to suppress a blush.

**" Indeed, she was absolutely unformed **_**clay**_**," Mrs. Dark agreed. " We have truly worked a miracle here. I can't see how the Magister could fail to be pleased."**

**Mrs. Black gave a little gasp. " Does that mean**-** Do you think it's _time_?"**

Everyone looked at each other except for Jem and Tessa, who was trying to hold the tears in, not wanting to start tearing up in front of these people. Most of them she doesn't even know, so how could she let this one wall down. She just couldn't because she might just get hurt again from the people she loves. Family included, those are the worst kinds of betrayal.

**" Oh, absolutely, my dear sister. She's as ready as she'll ever be. It's time for our Theresa to meet her master."**

" I don't like the way that sounds. ' Meet her master.' Sounds to ominous, for me. I especially didn't like when they are talking right in front of you as though you're a dog or some slave they can order around. They need to know that you are a living being!" Alec said. Everyone, including himself, was just amazed at his outlash. Everyone would expect Jace, Clary, Izzy or anybody else for that matter, but not shy, resevered Alec.

" Well that may be, Alec, but they gave me the necessities to live, even though they tortured me to an end. If it makes you feel any better, I am alive and well now as well as later in the books, okay?" Tessa reassured Alec, who reminded her so much of her beloved Will.

**There was a gloating note in Mrs. Dark's voice, a sound so unpleasant that it cut through Tessa's blinding dizziness. What were they talking about? Who is the Magister?**

Jem muttered an inaudible, " Great question." That only Tessa could hear, who just smiled at her boyfriend.

**She watched through lowered eyelashes as Mrs. Dark jerked the silk bellpull that would summon Miranda to come and take Tessa back to her room. It appeared that the lesson was over for today.**

**" Perhaps tomorrow," said ," or even tonight. If we were told the Magister she was ready, I cannot imagine he would not hurry here without delay." **

**Mrs. Dark, stepping out from behind the desk, chuckled.**

" I wonder what that sounds like?" Jace sneered

" Probably a metal spoon getting torn up by those garbage disposal. You know the ones in the sink when you have too much food in the drain. Yeah, I bet that is what it sounds like." Simon said trying to lighten the mood. It only worked a little bit, though.

**"I understand that you're eager to be paid for all our work, dear sister. But Theresa must not be simply _ready_. She must be... presentable as well as able. Don't you agree?"**

" Hey at least you get an extra day, huh?" Jordan asked sully, not really wanting an answer. Izzy sensing this continued before anyone had a chance to say anything.

**Mrs. Black, following her sister, muttered a response that was cut short as the door opened and Miranda came in. She wore the same dull look as ever. The sight of Tessa crouched and bloody on the floor seem to occasion no surprise in her.**

" What is she? A robot?" Simon asked.

" You have no idea." replied Tessa.

**Then again, Tessa thought, she had probably seen far worse in this room.**

**" Take the girl back up to her room, Miranda." The eagerness was gone from Mrs. Black's voice, and she was all brusqueness again. " Get the things, you know, the ones we showed you, and get her dressed and ready." **

" Ready for what, exactly?" Jocelyn asked

" My wedding day." Was all Tessa said

**" The things... you showed me?" **

" What is she?! A lugnut?!" Simon asked

Tessa laughed a little bit because he doesn't now how right he is.

**Miranda sounded blank. **

**Mrs. Dark and Mrs. Black exchanged a disgusted look, and approached Miranda, blocking Tessa's view of the girl. Tessa heard them whispering to her, and caught a few words - " dresses" and " wardrobe room" and " do what you can to make her look pretty,...**

" How can they say that!" Magnus outraged." She looks beautiful the way she is, well maybe not at that time, but I wasn't there so I wouldn't know."

" Aww, Mags, thanks for the compliment." Tessa said, greatly appreciating the comment.

**And then finally, Tessa heard the rather cruel, " I'm not sure Miranda is _clever _enough to obey vague instructions of that sort, sister."**

" Well of course not," Simon said, " Vagueness is not a very good thing to do, if you want someone to do something for you. Can't these witches think or do any thing right? Wait, don't answer that."

Everyone just left him alone and Izzy continued reading.

_**Make her look pretty**_**. But what did they care whether she looked pretty or not, when they could force her to look anyway they wanted? What did it matter what her true appearance was?**

" Because you are magnificently, beautiful women." Jem said. Tessa looked at him with love and passion only built for two. Tessa leaned up to kiss Jem. It was a slow, loving kiss that they didn't want to stop, but they were in a room full of people, so they broke apart. Tessa sporting a bright red blush that can compete with Clary's hair.

**And why would the Magister care? Though, it was very clear from the Sisters' behavior that they believed he would.**

**Mrs. Black swept from the room, her sister following behind her, as she always did. At the door paused, and looked back at Tessa. " Do remember, Threresa," she said, " that this day- this very night- is what all of our preparation has been for." She took hold of her skirts in both bony hands. " Do _not _fail us."**

" Well... that wasn't weird." Simon said sarcastically

" The shadow world always is." Luke said

There was a odd silence so Izzy just read on since their isn't much pages left in the chapter.

**She let the door bang shut behind her. Tessa flinched at the noise, but Miranda, as always, seemed utterly unaffected.**

" I like that word," Clary said " Utterly... sounds like a cow's utter." everyone smiled with their common fascination with the word 'Utterly'.

**In all the time that she had passed in the Dark House, Tessa had never been able to startle the other irl, or surprise an unguared expression out of her.**

" Okay, that 's it!" Simon said, " She is a robot!"

**Tessa rose to her feet, slowly. Her mind was whirling. Her life in the Dark House has been horrible, but she had - she reliazed now- grown almost used to it.**

" No one should be used to that kind of life style!" Jocelyn said." That's just plain wrong."

" Well thank you Jocelyn, that means a lot to me." Tessa said, filled with a loving family right in her midst.

**She had known what to expect each day. She had known the Dark Sisters were preparing her for something, but she had not known what that something was. She believed naïvely, perhaps that they wouldn't kill her. Why waste all this training on her if she was only going to die?**

" Wow." Clary said." That really was the worst time of your life when you start question and/or wanting death."

" I'm just glad I survived and met wonderful. caring people." Tessa said looking at Magnus and Jem. _Only if Will was here, too. _Tessa thought.

**But something in 's gloating tone gave her a pause. Something had changed. They had achieved what they wanted with her. They were going to be "paid." But who was going to do the paying?**

" You sure ask a lot of question." Jace said to Tessa

Tessa just looked at him, looking for similarities between her and him. She is now coming up short. _Maybe we will have good relationship after we finish these books._ " Wouldn't you?"

Jace looked at her like she was crazy, but the answer would be yes, but it isn't like he was going to say it aloud for everyone to hear; although he fells this strong connection, only a few strength wise away from his connection to Clary or Alec. He vowed to himself that he wouldn't allow Tessa get into his mind.

The room was starting to have an awkward feeling to it, so Izzy just continue.

**" Come," Miranda said again. " We must get you ready for the Magister."**

" Who is this Magister everyone is talking about?" Luke asked

" Who will soon learn, but I should warn you, the name is going to be mentioned a lot. Let's think of him as the Antagonist and Tessa as the Protagonist." Jem told everyone.

**" Miranda," Tessa said. Se spoke softly, the way she might have spoken to a nervous cat. Miranda had never answered a question of Tessa's before, but that didn't mean it wasn't worth trying.**

" There's my girl!" Magnus told Tessa proudly, like a father would congratulate his daughter when she graduated from college.

**"Who is the Magister?"**

" Awe, the prized question of all." Jace said

**There was a long silence. Miranda stared straight ahead, her doughy face impassive. Then, to Tessa's surprise, she spoke. " The Magister is a very great man," she said. " It would be an honor for you when you are married to him."**

Everyone, excluding Magnus and Jem, looked at Tessa with a questioning look on their faces. She could just imagined what they're thinking. Like, _She's only SIXTEEN_ or _Why to an older man? _Anyway they will all know the answer in the mean time.

**"_Married_?" Tessa echoed. The shock was so intense that she could suddenly see the whole room more clearly - Miranda, the blood-splattered rug on the floor, the brass globe on the desk, still tilted in the postion Mrs. Black had it in. " Me? But- who is he?"**

**" He is a very great man,"**

" Of course she will say that." Jordan said under his breath

**Miranda said again. " It will be an honor." She moved toward Tessa. " You must come with me now."**

**" No." Tessa backed away from the other girl, retreating until the small of her back struck painfully against the desk. She looked around desperately. She could run, but she'd never get past Miranda to the door; there were no windows, no doors to other rooms. If she hid behind the desk, Miranda would simply drag her out and haul her to her room. " Miranda, _please_."**

**" you must come with me now," Miranda repeated...**

" She sure does that a lot." Simon pointed out

**...she had almost reached Tessa. Tessa could see herself reflected in the black pupils of the other girl's eyes, could smell the faint, bitter, almost charred smell that clung to Miranda's clothes and skin." You must-"**

**With a strength she didn't know she possessed, Tessa seized the base of the brass globe on the desk, lifted it, and swung it with all he might at Miranda's head.**

Everyone cheered for Tessa, who'd done such a thing. Everyone just smiled with proud ness. It made her feel great and most of all, loved.

After everyone settled down a little bit, Isabelle continued, with only a page and a half left.

**It connected with a sickening sound. Miranda reeled back - and then straighten. Tessa shrieked and dropped the globe, staring- the whole left side of Miranda's face was crushed in, like a paper mask that had been smashed flat on one side.**

" Ha!" Simon exclaimed." I knew it! She's a robot or something!" Simon just jumped up and did a small dance like football players do when they win a touchdown. Clary, Izzy and Maia just laughed at him and his ridiculousness.

**Her cheekbone was flattened, her lip mashed against her teeth. But there was no blood, no blood at all.**

Simon just smiled.

**" You must come with me now," Miranda said, in the same flat tone she always used.**

**Tessa Gaped.**

**" You must come- you m-must- you- you- you- yyyyyyyyy-" Miranda's voice shuddered and broke. degenerating into a stream of gibberish. She moved toward Tessa, then jerking to the side, twitching and stumbling. Tessa turned from the desk and began to back away as the injured girl spun, faster and faster. She reeled across the room like a staggering drunk, still shrieking, and crashed into the far wall - which seemed to stun her. She collapsed to the ground and lay still.**

Everyone just stared at the book like it was going talk and answer all their answers, but no such luck. Izzy continued.

**Tessa raced to the door and out into the corridor beyond, pausing only once, just outside the room, to look back. It seemed, in that brief moment, as if a thread of black smoke were rising from Miranda's prone body , but there was no time to stare. Tessa darted down the hall, leaving the door hanging behind her.**

**She dashed for the stairs and hurtled up them, nearly tripping over her skirts and banging her knee painfully on one of the steps. She cried out and scrambled on, up to the first landing, where she dashed into the corridor. It stretched out ahead of her long and curving, disappearing into shadows. As she raced down it, she saw that it was lined with doors. She paused and tried one, but it was locked, and so was the next one, and the next after that.**

" you must really have had bad luck back then?" Jordan asked.

" This is only the beginning." Was all Tessa replied.

**Another set of stairs led down at the end of the hallway. Tessa raced down them and found herself in an entryway. It looked as if t had once been grand- the floor was cracked and stained marble, and high windows on either side were shielded with curtains. a little bit of light spilled through the lace, illuminating an enormous front door. Tessa's heart leaped. She dived for the knob, seized it, and flung the door open.**

Everyone, involuntarily, moved in a little closer as if there is something real special if they only get closer.

**There was a narrow cobblestoned street beyond , with rows of terraced houses lining either side. The smell of the city hit Tessa like a blow- it had been so long since she'd breathed outside air.**

" What I was in need of fresh air." Tessa said defensively

" No worries, we were not judging you." Jocelyn said calmly

**It was closed to dark, the sky the dimming blue of twilight, obscured by smudges of fog. In the distance she could hear voices, the cries of children playing, the clop of horses' hooves. But here the street was nearly deserted, save for a man leaning against a nearby gas lamp, reading a newspaper by its light.**

**Tessa dashed down the steps and towards the stranger, catching him by the sleeve. " Please, sir -if you could help me-"**

" Why did you break off like that?" Maia asked

" I noticed something." Was all she said.

**He turned, and looked down at her.**

**Tessa stifled a scream. His face was as white and waxy as it had been the first time she'd seen him, at the dock in Southampton; his bulging eyes stilled reminded her of Miranda's, and his teeth gleamed like metal when he grinned.**

**It was the Dark Sister's coachman.**

**Tessa turned to run, but it was already too late.**

" That was the end of the chapter." Izzy said finishing chapter one

" If only he wasn't the first person you saw." Luke said

" Don't worry about. If I had been succesful in escaping, they would have tracked me down and I wouldn't have found the love of my life. So, it all worked well in the end." Tessa explained.

" Well I guess the next question is: Who's going to read next?"

* * *

**Hey guys, thanks for all the patience. I would love to hear all of your guess on who the surprised guess is. Hint: said it in the chapter. Review please.**

**Also, as everyone knows, school has started so I will try to balance my writing and school work at the same time, wish me luck. Bye!**


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